Gerard St. Ours represents institutions of higher education in litigation and other complex legal matters akin to those he faced during nearly 30 years as senior counsel for a major university. Administrative and academic leaders rely on Gerard for advice on sensitive, high-stakes issues ranging from employment disputes and labor relations to civil rights, campus protests, government and internal investigations, and crisis response. He also advises on faculty affairs, student conduct, governance, compliance, lobbying and political law, and contracts.
Gerard is well-versed in laws and regulations affecting higher education institutions including civil rights and anti-discrimination laws. He regularly handles matters involving Title VII, Title IX, Title VI, the Higher Education Act, the Clery Act, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), disabilities law, affirmative action, wrongful discharge, sexual harassment and child protection.
Gerard’s deep knowledge of labor and employment and higher education law, and his ability to strategically apply this knowledge to challenges faced by colleges and universities in a practical manner, stems from his prior role as senior counsel in the Office of the General Counsel at Johns Hopkins University. In his career there, Gerard focused on a broad array of legal issues related to faculty, students and staff. He served as the lead attorney on matters involving four unions representing approximately 5,500 employees, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. His work in this area included collective bargaining, and he served on the bargaining teams that successfully negotiated the first agreement with a graduate student union. He handled grievances and arbitration and advised on labor relations as well. Gerard also advised on student affairs and student conduct issues, discrimination and harassment law, faculty employment matters, including contracts, tenure review and revocation, faculty misconduct, and faculty governance and policy, as well as employment issues such as reductions in force.
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Gerard regularly presents about legal issues pertaining to higher education and employers, and he is an active member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA), which honored him with its Distinguished Service Award in 2019.